Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses an original methodology (which I have termed ethno-situationism) that asks whether intentional and performative acts of walking can effect changes in the attitudes and perceptions of walkers to their neighbourhood and environment that might encourage dialogue and exchange.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I discuss the development of an original methodology created during my doctoral research. This methodology (ethno-situationism) asks whether intentional and performative acts of walking can effect changes in the attitudes and perceptions of walkers to their neighbourhood and environment that might encourage dialogue and exchange. I will focus on the collaborative, participatory process of the research which involved recruiting thirty volunteers who conducted and subsequently responded to creative interventions in their everyday walks.

I created opportunities for volunteers to 'play' through interruptions in their everyday walking habits, drawing on the work of Moshe Feldenkrais, the Situationists, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and David Seamon. This is further informed by theoretical perspectives concerned with the creation of noticing, noticing the noticing, and aesthetic 'moments' of surprise and wonder emerging from the familiarity of the everyday as proposed by Edward Casey, Jane Bennett, Tim Brennan, Rita Felski and Henri Lefebvre.

The process of this enactment creates what I term the i-don't-know-space, which holds the potential to encourage a receptivity to new encounters through active listening and noticing, as proposed by Gemma Coradi Fiumara and Geraldine Finn. My research asks whether such 'ethical encounters' may be instrumental in the creation of new understandings of the ways in which we form knowledge and relationships with our environment and with people within that environment.

I will then discuss further walkworks/interventions such as the Chip Walk, Phone Text Walk and the Sit-U-ationist Sofa. Bibliographic references available on request.